A dream interpretation and sharing site that reinforces self-discovery through the interpretation of dreams. Copyright Bob Cole

Dream meaning

Dragons turn up in dreams from time to time but what is he or she trying to tell us?

They have a long history in both Europe and in the far-east. In Europe they often lay waste to villages, turn brave knights into ash and steal fair maidens for feasting.

In the English story of St. George and the Dragon the knight does battle with the Dragon that has stolen the King’s daughter. He eventually slays him but is that all there is to it? Is it all just a fairy story, probably not because every story is symbolic of the psyche of humankind? And the story of Saint George is no different. Psychologists suggest that the story may be archetypal in that it represents the battle between good and evil I all of us. This shows the selfless courage of the hero and is an attempt by the psyche to integrate the opposites and that Saint George’s conquest represents when someone has successfully done so. But all dragons are not always demonic aspects of the self.

St George and the Dragon by Tintoretto. This rendering has the body of Christ laying prostrate and thus St George is symbolically redeeming his death to bring balance.

The Dragon is actually the major symbol of good fortune in Chinese Astrology. The Dragon constellation, for example, is accorded the honor of being the guardian of the Eastern sky. Traditionally the Dragon brings in the Four Blessings of the East: wealth, virtue, harmony and longevity.

Of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac the Dragon is the most special, as it is a mystical being rather than an earthly animal. According to Chinese astrology it’s a karmic sign and we can expect grand things from this year.

Chinese mythology sees the dragon as a symbol of wisdom.

Interestingly enough the root word for Dragon in ancient Greek was Drakon that means “to see clearly” or “that which sees.” This might be interpreted as wisdom.

Confucious (a famous Chinese philosopher) compared Lao Tzu (the writer of the Tao Te Ching) to a Dragon.

A good luck and wisdom symbol. Many pictures show the dragon handing the “Pearl of Wisdom”, or the “Pearl of Potentiality”to a shaman. Good, life-giving energy (chi) is channeled along “Dragon-lines” that in China were said to follow underground water or magnetic fields.To dream of a dragon is considered by some Chinese to be very auspicious.

The Lung dragon was the most powerful of the three species of Chinese Dragon and was considered a divine animal. The Cha-yü dragon only showed up when a ruling sovereign showed a lack of virtue. This dragon was known for eating men (symbolic of an leader who consumed the virtue and life force of others).

In Chinese mythology the Dragon of Hidden Treasures is a symbol of vigilance and the guardian of their fortune.

The Chinese New Years Dragon represents benevolence, but also power, representing the forces of nature. It is a rain bringer and dragon of fertility that brings only benefit to the people.

The Chinese frequently paired the dragon with the image of a phoenix bird (Fenghuang, or the August Rooster). Since Neolithic China these two were considered two of the four Supernatural Spirits symbolizing both the four directions and the four seasons (which seem to have been added to over the millennia e.g. The dragon, phoenix (or the Feng bird for short), unicorn (or deer), tortoise and tiger). They were often thought of as the “Gentleman and the Sage” and given that the Emperors of China often thought of themselves as descended from the Dragon, the Phoenix was often seen as his mate. Thus this pairing has been likened to the union of the Yin and Yang. An old saying in China goes, “When the Dragon soars and the Phoenix dances, the people will enjoy happiness for years…”

For the ancient Chinese culture dragon were primarily symbolic, but the idea of the actual existence of Dragons surfaced Millennia ago as the philosopher Chang Qu found gigantic bones of a dinosaur and mistook them for that of a dragon.

In Chinese myth, dragons originated as rain deities. Folk legends say that the dragon lives under water half of the year, rising into the sky during the spring when the constellation of Draco, the dragon, is at its highest. In China, dragons are symbols of authority, fertility, goodness and strength, and the benevolent giver of wealth and good fortune.

They were generally portrayed as protectors, guarding treasure, temples, or even Heaven itself, keeping watch over sky and waterways. This image of beneficent power was appreciated by China’s rulers, who used the dragon as an imperial symbol. The emperor occupied the Dragon Throne, wore dragon robes and even slept in the dragon bed. Chinese people sometimes referred to themselves as children of the dragon.

In Chinese culture, the season of the Dragon is mid-spring, its direction is east by southeast, and its fixed element is wood.

Symbolic meaning of the Dragon in dreams:

The dragon and the snake have a rich symbolic history in the mythology of mankind. In general, animals were seen to have certain attributes that were often observed in their natural behaviors. It was these attributes that people wanted to take on for themselves and it was thought that aligning ones self, or by extension, ones nation, or tribe with the animal it would assist in this process. This practice still exist to some extent in military banners and national emblems, note the Eagle in the Marine Corps banner as well as that of the national emblem, or the double headed eagle of Greece or the eagle in the Egyptian flag, or the dragon in the flag of Wales.

The Dragon is often the protector of treasure with the TREASURE representing YOU. (which was the point of the book The Dragon’s Treasure. It can represent fears that have to be overcome before recognizing the true self. Often it can be the guardian of the spirit. For some it is their ‘Spirit Guide.’

The fearsomeness of the Dragon could represent the fear felt regarding the unconscious.

Dragons and snakes are interchangeable in many cultures. Giant snakes like the Naga can be found in many cultures, Hindu, Buddhist to name two of the most well known. They often represent rebirth and death. The Minoan Snake Goddess of early Greece represented wisdom and the snake of the Asclepion was a healing snake that we still see emblazoned within modern medicine. All can be considered symbols for meaning in the dream world.

• Dragon totems in some Native American traditions represent messengers of balance. They are also seen as the masters of all the elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. They are seen as powerful guardians and guides and embody the primordial power.

“A Dragon totem is one of the most powerful totems, representing a huge range of qualities, emotions, and traits. When Dragons come to us, it could mean many things.

The most common message a Dragon totem [may] carry to us is a need for strength, courage, and fortitude. Dragons are also messengers of balance, and magic – encouraging us to tap into our psychic nature and see the world through the eyes of mystery and wonder.

More specifically, Dragons are the embodiment of primordial power – the ultimate ruler of all the elements. This is because the Dragon is the master of all the elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind.

As a totem, the Dragon serves as a powerful guardian and guide. Encourage communication with your Dragon, and acknowledge your Dragon’s presence as often as possible.”*

With the Native Americans of the North and Southwest there were a number of Dragon and serpent legends. Most of these Dragons and serpents stole children and were associated with water. Some stories may have been used to scare children away from water and thus the serpent became a type of bogey.

The Australian Aborigine speaks of the Dreaming where two Serpents Yingara and Ngalyod (mother and father deities) are revered as the Rainbow Serpent creators of the world.

From the Wiccan perspective it represents a person of power and if in the dream you are riding on it, then it may be about spiritual insight.

A winged Dragon may also mean some kind of transcendence, a passing from a “lower” to “higher” level of maturity.

A Hydra is a many-headed dragon. Legend has it that Hercules kept cutting off the heads, but they grew back. To dream of a hydra might suggest that you are having a recurring issue in your life i.e. something that keeps coming back and never seems to get handled. Some sources (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap-dragon_%28game%29) suggest that after Hercules killed the dragon he made of it a flaming meat and named it “Snapdragon.” A game of this name was played by children in some English speaking countries from the 16th through the late 19th centuries on both Christmas eve and All Hallows eve. In a bowl of blue flaming brandy were placed raisins that the children would try to pluck out without getting burned and then eat, all the while chanting,

“With his blue and lapping tongue,

many of you will be stung

Snip, snap, dragon.”

The symbolism of conquering danger in both the legend of Hercules and the dragon and in the playing of the game, “Snapdragon” is inescapable. We humans are always telling the story of conquering evil, of being the heroes of our own personal myth. Thus continues the ongoing reconciliation between the opposites good and evil.

As with some other animal symbols the Dragon and/or snake may also represent your sexuality, especially if your sexuality scares you. Does it threaten to rule your life?

Some time ago I was down in Santa Barbara attending an introductory course on a relatively new approach to dream work. It’s called Dream Tending and though I’m only just scratching the surface of its potential, it has created enough of a change in my perspective that I want to alter the manner in which I work with a dream–yours and mine.

Today’s blog entry I think will reflect some of that change. As I learn and practice I’ll share this already transformational journey.

The Dream:

I’m walking down a forested path with overhanging bushes and trees. I’m looking down a downward sloping path that seems to go into darkness as it bends slightly to my right. Oh, oh, there’s a skunk walking around the corner and out of the darkness, waddling rapidly toward me.

I’m feeling a little fearful. “Will it spray me with that foul smell?” It doesn’t seem menacing, but I’m unsure as it passes me on my right, brushing alongside both myself and the bushes along the path. It’s heading up the path and as it does it seems to be changing from a skunk into a furry, fat old raccoon, less menacing and certainly less fearsome, though I still cringe at the thought of it spraying me once it has passed.

Here’s where I would normally begin the interpretation part of the dream work, however following at least the spirit of the Dream Tending technique, if not actually the letter of it, I continued to work with the image of the creature. What I am attempting to do is to keep the image alive so that I can continue to work with it and interact with it as opposed to doing forensics on it, which requires that it be still so that I can take it apart and study it. The old method requires that the image be unanimated e.g. dead and of course in this state it can only give me information about what was and provides nothing ongoing–it flattens, or two-dimensionalises what started out as an interactive three dimensional being within the dream world.

•••••••••••••••

Both of us seem focused on where we are going as though we each have a mission. As I’m working on this image I’m engaging the creature and say to it, “Good Luck!” and it responds, “Same to you!” There’s a sense of us being on the same team and performing our prescribed duties in a communal manner.

I’m having a sense that the creature is female and that she’s emerging (ascending) from where I’m headed–she having a purpose in the upper realm while I have a purpose in the lower realm.

We both seem excited by our respective missions. The mission seems like one for the planet versus a personal mission. She is coming from the mother, while I am going toward the mother with us both traveling along this two-way path.

I’m imagining the path now to include lots of back and forth traveling, doing the business of the planet. I’m noticing that this has always been the path that I have been on, but I didn’t have the eyes to see it. Now it feels as though I’m part of it versus being separate from it i.e. in true partnership. I’m feeling hopeful and energized.

I don‘t know what’s around the corner and though I’m feeling a little hesitant, I’m letting that pass and head down anyway. This transforming creature (from skunk to raccoon) reminds me of Alice’s Rabbit whose imaginal emergence becomes an invitation into a world beyond the normal–a world beyond our collective illusion–a glimpse of a world yet more real.

Though the skunk may represent my hesitancy in that I might need to protect myself, it also changes into something much more benign and welcoming.

I seem to be on the road to embodying my new position on the planet in that I am marching to its center to pick up my orders, so to speak.

I’m noticing that the thought, “Living life intentionally” comes up and that the dream seems to embody and encourage this intentionality.

I’m also struck by the animal’s femaleness and wonder if she is also a metaphor for transforming my relationship with the feminine. Am I finally recognizing our connection, our true partnership? Is the animal Psyche, Gaia, Earth Mother– the feminine side of God? Is she welcoming me as she did in the “Blue Fresco” dream summarized in the posting of 8-30-2016?

Am I being invited to help in bringing the feminine back to the world so as to heal its overly masculine imbalance? Is the image in the Blue Fresco the Sophia of the ancient Jewish tradition, the feminine aspect of God, the wisdom side of the masculine?

These are archetypal symbols that dramatize and establish core meaning to the images of the dream and invoke the divine that is in all dreams e.g. the Divine Mother and Wise Old Woman. They can be seen in virtually every mythology including those that were scribed as drawings on cave walls (the original temples serving as both tomb and womb, and earthly connection with the underworld and the spirit), or carved from clay before the dawn of the written word.

A neolithic mother goddess found at Catal Huyuk near Anatolia in modern Turkey c. 7000 B.C.E. These goddess figures can be seen to represent the earth itself.

I’d like to reintroduce my spirit guide again who first showed up a few years ago in a dream. She’s visited in earlier dreams as a female cartoon character and as a she-wolf named Onoma, but I didn’t recognize her for what she was back then.

She? It is said by some depth psychologists that the soul of a woman is masculine and the soul of a man is feminine. Each represent the less dominant aspect of the dreamer, that which they tend to reject into their personal unconscious, but during the night when the persona and the conscious ego-self sleep, the souls come out to play.

I’ve referred to this dream before having labeled it The Blue Fresco*.

This is a variation of that dream:

I’m at a party of old friends, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. As we leave, hugging and saying our goodbyes, I look down the street that is dimly lit with tall street lights casting their yellow glow into the night when a brighter glow takes over the darkness and I see plastered across the sky a bright blue fresco. A tall, thin figure, neither male nor female stands huge in the sky with its hands held invitingly out toward me. On closer inspection a tall, slender women wearing light blue gossamer robes comes down from the sky, landing briefly upon the ground and then leaping back into the night.

My wife runs back toward the house to fetch the grandchildren so as to share with them the sight. I worry that she’ll miss this if gone too long. Three other children run excitedly up the hill to get a better look at this painting upon the sky. I yell at them to turn around, but they don’t respond and keep on running. I turn around and walk alone toward the light. Everywhere is music, in the sky and in my head the music pervades. All fear disappears and I follow the invitation.

Interpretation:

Had I lived a few centuries earlier this would have been seen as a powerful spiritual message. For me this is hardly the kind of message I’m used to. Hell, I don’t even believe in this kind of symbolism! Nevertheless, it communicates.

The blue apparition is intuition–the spiritual–with the “angels” representing wisdom and the messengers of the awareness of a wider truth and the receptive, creative aspect of the self. They are heralding the potential for great achievement, the spirit, and the spiritual power within me. The children are the exuberant, growing self, uncontrolled by the external world. The music enhances the numinous, representing the play of forces within, and providing difficult realizations.

I walk on alone–this is how I imagine death, or the end, or transformation of an old way of being. The Christ-like, or holy, figure of the fresco represents the power of the inner influences of the powerful cosmic mystery of life unfolding. The figure is an archetype for the mystery that is my true self (all our true self) and quite likely the connection I have with all others–the roots of my being.

Often religion serves the purpose of gaining some sense of control over the uncontrollable. I’m being invited to release that attempt to control and embrace walking into the unknown alone– to walk this personal road in vulnerability. For me, this dream requires that I give up my knowing and transcend my personal beliefs about what is real and surrender to something bigger than that.

“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.”

–C.G. Jung

Some say that a dream figure such as the Blue Fresco is an archetypal figure (a type of symbolic image that shows up across all cultures) of the Great Mother.

The Great Mother figure may visit in many forms, such as the Virgin Mary, a Greek goddess, Sophia, the Earth, or even the dreamer’s mother**. Often these holy people inform and even direct our decisions in life.

Sometimes the Great Mother may come to us to suggest that we cut the dependency between she and us. A man needs to do this in order to become an equal with the feminine power. If he does not do this successfully he may then be into resistance of the feminine and try to dominate it psychologically and in his waking life. Both males and females need to accept the mother as being human in nature. By doing so they then are more able to accept themselves.

When I shared this dream with others one of my colleagues exclaimed that the figure was the Sophia, a Wisdom Goddess figure. From that point on the blue fresco became Sophia. Since then she has visited me in her darker forms and in her animal forms. I’ll share those visits in future posts.

Tarot cards sometimes show up in dreams. Two such dreams were submitted for interpretation a couple of years ago and though its been sometime since I interpreted them I thought I would share some of the meaning of these cards and a few extra that have shown from time to time over the years.

Part of my interpretive source comes from the book Tarot ReVisioned by Leigh J. McCloskey, Olander Press Ltd., 2003.

Interestingly these cards reflect what G.G. Jung would have called ‘archetypes’ in that their image represents similar meaning across all cultures of the world– some of our dream material seems to be hardwired into our brains and rise from the collective unconscious of the human psyche into our dreams.

For me Tarot is another example of how the human psyche projects itself into the symbolism of our lives. I believe that a gifted reader can tap into the querent, the person for whom the reading is being done, much as a few rare people can psychically ‘read’ another person’s thoughts and emotions during other forms of psychic endeavors. As with a dream interpreter the reader’s visions and suggestions should always be filtered through ones own inner wisdom and sensibility i.e. if it resonates, use it to explore further if not, let it go.

Because the article is longer than usual, I’ll be splitting the represented cards between today and tomorrow. Today I’ll be looking at the Fool, Magus, and Empress while tomorrow I’ll look at the Emperor, Temperance and Death.

Tarot, the Fool: This card when seen in a dream can symbolize the archetype of awakening to self-knowledge. The Fool sometimes suggests that in all things spiritual one must always act as a beginner. It can also suggest that one may be blissfully ignorant of something (either they’re being foolish or fearless with some predicament). For Sufis the Fool is the voice of wisdom and humor and knows that it is madness to seek power and money as ends in themselves. He can also represent choice, that no one is ever really compelled, that there’s always a choice.

Magus (or Magician): This guy is also known as the Magician. The connection between the spirit self, the unconscious psyche and the conscious self sort of a divine intermediary. In the creation story where the “everything” wants a means of knowing itself it needed to create an “other than itself” i.e. the world and us. Thus the Magus becomes the mirror to the spirit’s real self, to our real self.

The Magus is also the balancing point between intellect and inspiration i.e. between the external world an ones inner life. He teaches that true magic isn’t about trying to have power over the world.

In a dream he may suggest that some issue may be trickier than you thought, perhaps you need to look at something from another perspective? His presence in a dream might also mean that you may be trying to fool yourself. If the magician is causing trouble he may represent deception. Are you trying to control something or do you fear someone else’s attempts at control?

Empress: Also known as the Great Mother, the Virgin Mary, Isis, Hecate, Qwan Yin, the Hindu goddess Kamala, and Gnosis. This card can sometimes represent Mother Nature. She can be seen as the sustaining nurturer, symbol of love (e.g. in her Venus form), and mother of ideas. She represents the potential of humankind.

She can be seen as a gateway to the light and the ultimate divine nature of humankind. She is also both wisdom and folly. She can represent the bridge or connection between the ineffable, what cannot be experienced in words, and the manifest, how the divine translates into the everyday. She is essentially the mother of creation.

I have seen a form of her in my dreams where she has appeared as Sophia showing and inviting me to take the path less traveled into a higher understanding, aka awareness, of reality.

In a dream she can represent power and honor and influence both in the positive and the negative. She can represent the influences our own mothers had, and in most cases continue to have, on our life and how we perceive it.

In a male’s dream she may represent a need for independence from ones own mother or a better or different interaction between his masculine and feminine personality selves/traits. Without a separation from his mother image a male might be always looking for her in all his relationships and only be projecting her image onto these relationships and never seeing the real person.

Emperor: The masculine archetype of leadership, assertiveness, and courage. He is the doer of the potential of the Empress. He is the energy behind the creative imagination of the Empress. He reflects power but not force. To confuse the two becomes destructive, not creative. He is the applier of the love represented in the Empress. He directs and applies the energies of the Magus and the Empress, essentially the igniter of their energies into the world. He represents the divine reason to the boundless imagination of the two. Essentially he is the yang to the Empress’ Yin and suggests the need for balance and the proper exercise between the masculine and feminine traits.

In a dream and in his positive aspect he can symbolize the need for action, decisiveness, completion and balance, or the need for harmony. Consider that his negative form would represent the opposites of his positive qualities, force instead of power, imbalance or disharmony and destructiveness. He can represent the negative or positive father, even God or the devil. The Emperor can also be represented by a priest, or ones own father. Sometimes ones father traits or habits can be helpful or debilitative. He often reflects our inner expectations for ourselves for good or bad.

He can represent control by others or self-control. In a female’s dream he can represent her animus her own inner masculine positive or negative and the need for balance and the manifesting of some needed trait e.g. assertiveness or decisiveness.

Temperance or Hermaphrodite: (the marriage of Hermese and Aphrodite) representing the conscious and unconscious, the masculine and feminine attributes, and the blending of opposites­ – it temporizes the headlong flight of the Fool. This union of opposite attributes can be seen in the Lovers card as well (notice that in this card a Temperance-like angel seems to be in the background). sometimes these images are speaking to the need for some kind of adjustment to a way of thinking. These cards can also speak to a way of bringing harmony to ones contrary thoughts. They can also be seen as a symbol of the need to unite the conscious and spiritual selves. Ultimately a dream with either or both of these images might be about love, giving or getting and what it is to mature and sustain it.

Lastly, I bring up the Death card: In a dream this doesn’t always mean ones own death or the death of someone close but can be symbolic of an ending or the need to end something. It can mean the death of a way of being, an idea, point-of-view or of a relationship of some kind. In a dream it can be about transformation or the need for it. It can symbolize change. Behind death waits something new so it can sometimes represent the generative power behind a new beginning.

Sometimes death in a dream symbolizing the lack of resistance needed to diminish the power that the resistance to evil actually gives to evil. The fear of death is often an impediment to healing and growing. Death’s dark aspect is often used to avoid dealing with scary things and yet there is treasure hidden in the darkness of death’s potential.

Death in a dream can be pointing to ones inner demons and the need to deal with them appropriately, to take personal responsibility for them and accept that they are a part of oneself. Accepting without becoming and acknowledging ones dark side without judgment begins the journey toward real change. Thus death can symbolize the need for or the beginning of real growth. Death in this light is a transpersonal image, a means for transcending the ego-self.

Yesterday’s eclipse was an awe inspiring event. The Moon traversing and shadowing the disc of the sun has provided much mystery over many millennia. Though the Sun gets top billing during an eclipse of the Sun it is the Moon that is the lead actor in this heavenly drama. The Moon and it’s other solar brethren have special meaning to those of us staring up into the sky both in the everyday and in the realm of our dreams.

In the photo at left is Selene the Greek Moon goddess and guardian of the night. She was, according to legend, daughter of Hyperion–the lord of light– and sibling of Eos the goddess of the dawn and rebirth. She’s also known Luna, the Roman Titaness.

A character in the Archipelago of Dreams, Eo is named after the Celtic goddess for rebirth. She is cast as a Phoenix bush– that which burns, but does not die, becoming reborn anew. In the book she plays a role as a healer of souls and guides Robert in the processes of healing.

The Moon has even more meaning than meets the eye. An eclipse of the Moon can suggest that ones feminine side is being overshadowed, or that some hidden aspect is about to be revealed. The moon eclipsing the Sun could very well be a union of the feminine and masculine aspects of ones self. The new light peeking from behind the Moon as the eclipse passes could be a new light, knowledge, or a new perspective.

The moon is often a symbol for the Priestess, or Goddess who may in a man’s dream be about second-sight, or insight, the intuitive, and a messenger guide (this was so for me in the dream, The Blue Fresco) from the unconscious mind.

The full Moon may represent wholeness while the crescent can represent transformation (Shiva in Hinduism is the god of transformation and is represented by the crescent), openness and resurrection (as with the middle eastern crescent of Islam). A waning Moon, can symbolize letting go, whereas the waxing Moon can be about growing insight and awareness.

A red Moon can be about violence, disaster and strife, while a blue Moon can represent rarity. The moon also represents the receptive and wisdom. The Virgin Mary and Sophia were likened to The Moon of the Church, the reflector of the light of the Christ (often symbolized by the Sun). The Star of David can signify the union of Heaven and Earth.

The full Moon in the book The Archipelago of Dreams represented wholeness and completion and a goddess messenger for success. Viewing it helped the hero, Robert, to calm himself and get to sleep before battling the shadows of the Dark Lords.

Stars in ones dream can represent knowledge (universal and self) and the divine. Sometimes a star can be like an angel, a messenger from the divine spirit. In some Native American tribes the stars in the sky are the campfires of dead ancestors, with their spirits forever looking down upon you. Here too the star played a prominent role in Robert’s transformation while in the Archipelago. (from flickr.com)

The morning star (Venus the goddess of persuasive feminine charm and for the Romans, the mother of them all) heralds the rise of the Sun (the Moon’s male counterpart). This was a good sign for a new beginning and for enlightenment. However, some Christians saw the same symbol in opposition when they determined that this star represented the devil Lucifer that means “Morning Star” in Latin. Interestingly enough the archetypal image of the devil usually refers to a dark and unwanted side of our own nature that can only be dealt with in the direct light of day e.g. through conscious awareness.

The five-pointed star called a pentacle shows up in many Christian churches as a symbol to ward off evil, though in opposition, or inverted, the star represents evil. The European Roma call it the Star of Knowledge. When an apple is cut in half across the core a pentacle becomes evident–no wonder the apple gets such a bad rap.

Shooting stars are often seen as a divine sign, or as a messenger from God, hence the ancient ritual of asking (praying) for some intervention as it shoots across the sky.

Generally, stars in ones dream can represent success i.e. fame and fortune, aspirations and high ideals. Or you could be putting your fortunes into the hands of the stars e.g. luck. A star can also refer to the dreamer, the star of his or her own life.

Planets may be about creativity, exploration and adventure. Each planet has its own particular meaning e.g. Jupiter may be about success and extravagance, while Venus may represent desire, beauty and feminine power, whereas Mars may be energy, drive, passion, and masculine power.

The Zodiac is a system of explaining the universe through the movements of the stars, around the ecliptic path of the Sun, Moon and planets. To see the zodiac in your dreams is to see a representation of the various traits and aspects that one uses to connect with their universe. For those who are familiar with the signs, a particular sign may point to a particular trait or aspect in the dreamer. The zodiac can also be a metaphor for the passage of time, or the mysteries of life as well as being a metaphor for destiny e.g. something over which you have little or no control.

I’ve heard it said that we, and the universe find ourselves in, are but holographic projections. As with any hologram every portion of it reflects the whole. This is true for fractals as well that are fragmented geometric shapes that can be split into parts, each of which is a miniature reflection of the whole.

This idea that parts of something can reflect the essence of the whole can be extended to ourselves as well in that each of us contain an archetypal template of the ultimate self, or soul. It has also been my experience that the merest of dream fragments can reflect transcendent and transformational information equal to or greater than that reflected by whole epic dreams. Sometimes a sentence, or even a single word can evoke hidden associations that open doors to the psyche theretofore unknown to the dreamer.

Even with just a word there may be more than one level of meaning e.g. sometime ago someone shared that they remembered only seeing the color green in their dream. The revelation within this single recall fragment included feelings of being naïve (of having been ‘used’ by another person), of being concerned about their effect on others (the environment of their relationships) and a sense of unacknowledged envy and jealousy regarding a colleague. This person also shared that they had been worried that they were not progressing in their desire to grow deeper into their spiritual quest and had been concerned that they had embraced the interpreting of dreams naively and perhaps incorrectly, as would a novice (someone who is ‘green’). All this from a single word!

What seems like meaningless information can yield immense insight if held in the right context. If it is true that you and I are projecting onto our experience of objective reality our wholly subjective meaning of it, then in everything we see (while awake or dreaming) we can glean information about our inner self—every event* becomes a mini reflection of who we are.

_________________________________________________________

*event: a noun (person, place, or thing)

Definition:

something that happens at a given place and time (in Zen, persons and things exist in a relational context and are located in time, thus satisfying this definition of an event)

a special set of circumstances; “in that event, the first possibility is excluded”; “it may rain in which case the picnic will be canceled”

a phenomenon located at a single point in space-time; the fundamental observational entity in relativity theory.

Some time ago I interpreted a personal dream that included a number of symbols representing a balancing of opposites. Nestled within the dream was a reference to 20K gold as a transforming element within my psyche. This reminded me of a goal (there being many more than one) of transforming base materials, such as lead, into a more precious and higher level metal in the form of gold. Carl Jung loved the symbolism of alchemy, the mystical precursor to chemistry, and likened it to an unconscious attempt to reconcile, or bring into balance, conflicting opposites, in our personality and especially within the psyche. He likened this process in humans as a conscious and unconscious attempt to create wholeness, or self-actualization. He called this process Individuation.

In the dream the base, or common, metal transformation into a higher level, or rarefied, metal such as Gold has yet another level of transformation i.e. the transformation of gold (the accumulated money) into the symbol of the self (a building) thus gold can also symbolize a base-metal-transformation into and even higher form e.g. the integrated human, in this case, me.

Note that the ultimate stated goal for the alchemist was to create the Philosopher’s Stone, that which makes eternal life. In alchemy, sequential chemical transformations lead to an ultimate goal of human existence—to live eternal. Gold was never really the ultimate goal, just another step along the individuation process. In short, alchemy was also the study of the unconscious and thus its methodology, symbolism and mythology of mankind’s psychic conflicts and seemingly unbalanced dichotomies such as masculine/feminine traits is a metaphor for the therapeutic process and the use of dream analysis as a tool in this process. Thus the purpose of dream analysis is to serve as a tool toward the individual access of the collective and personal unconscious for personal growth toward self-actualization.

According to Jung, the integration of humans was a means of reconciling conflicting sides of themselves primarily for religious, or spiritual function. This function has nothing to do with creeds and dogmas, but an expression of what the collective unconscious does to inspire us toward spirituality and love.

In this way this dream seems to serve as a summary of what I’ve learned so far and acts as a bookend to the last several dreams that have dealt with both the waking dream and sleeping dream material that have revealed some understanding of the self and how it interacts with world.

Another message in the dream is that as I learn to balance (integrate) my conflicting perspectives of myself, I come closer to my true self. I have shadow sides of my nature and sunny sides, negative and positive self-judgments, and masculine and feminine natures. Ignoring, or actively denying any of these conflicting aspects causes the balance scale to tip excessively in one direction and the composite that is me becomes less than whole and less able to live my life in a useful i.e. meaningful way. Tipping toward the extremes causes one to diverge from the path of self-actualization and among other things, creates zealotry—an inflexible response to life.

“Vocatus atque, non vocatus, deus aderit.”

This saying is carved above the door of Carl Jung’s house near Zurich and translates as “Bidden or not bidden God is always there”. It was the message that the Oracle at Delphi gave to the Lacedemonians as they were planning their war against ancient Athens. This was also the message to Jacob in his dream of angels descending and ascending a staircase or ladder to heaven.

The spirit is always there whether you are conscious of it or not was the message I got one evening long ago. At that time I was in graduate school and full of all kinds of ideas that were heretical to not only my upbringing but also the prevailing social and culture acceptance of the day. When I felt alone in my growing awareness, when I felt lost and had trouble finding my way because I had allowed myself to walk far outside the boundaries of my culture I discovered that all I had to do was to look within to find my core self– the spirit that was always with me. It got me through a lot of tough times.

Before I was even aware of the old-testament story of Jacob and his dream I had a dream where a woman dressed in blue and hovering above a road beckoned me to follow her into the mountains beyond. As I stood there in the dream debating whether I should go

Jacob’s Ladder by RJ Cole from The Book of Dreams

I noticed that to my left were a group of angels going up and down a ladder into the sky. The dream was one of those that I knew was important, a sort of special dream aka a ‘holy or sacred dream’ even though I didn’t know what it meant at the time. It wasn’t until years later when I started to write my dreams and try to interpret them that the Jacob’s Ladder image dream came back into my life and took on immense importance.

In dreams this kind of image often represents the symbolic path between heaven and earth– the connection between your physical and spiritual aspects. It can also represent the connection between your conscious and unconscious self. Some envision the spiral of a strand of DNA as a Jacob’s ladder. In my old dream of a ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ the staircase seemed to represent my own struggle with the polarities within me (we all have conflicting aspects and personalities, desires and urges)– those aspects of myself that I either accepted or rejected.

As with the tree with its roots in the physical ground and its branches touching the heavens the staircase in Jacob’s ladder reminds me that we are bound both soul and body and is encouraging us to accept all of ourselves i.e. the dark as well as the light, the intellect and heart, body and spirit.

Also in my dream the “blue lady” who beckoned me turned out to be my feminine aspect, the intuitive wisdom aspect reflecting my soul and was encouraging me to take the road less traveled that would take me into the spiritual heights represented by the mountains in the distance. It was a long road representing a long journey that disappeared into the unknown, perhaps the land of my unconscious mind. She also was implying that I was not to fear the journey for she would be with me all the way. This was of course my first conscious experience of the spirit being at my side i.e. the manifestation of the oracles’ verbal missive, Vocatus atque, non vocatus, deus aderit.

In one of my videos* I used a mirror as a prop and symbol for the unconscious mind.

In myth Narcissus loved his reflection so much that he lost his will to live and admired himself to death. In our dreams mirrors can represent vanity, self-consciousness, a reflection of our self-image, an entry into the soul, or the need to reflect on our lives.

Whether in our waking world or in our dreams mirrors have always been seen as mystical, magical, metaphors for what lies within us.

For thousands of years mirrors and reflective surfaces have been used for divination and magic. They have been used for Scrying, developing clairvoyance, to repel evil, and in fact, mirrors have an ancient tradition of being associated with superstition, fear and evil.

1) Prior to the thirteenth century and as far back as the 3rd century BCE, mirrors were predominantly polished pieces of metal e.g. gold, silver and brass. These pretty much disappeared when the Christian church banned them during the middle ages because it was thought that the devil was watching from the other side of the mirror. This idea was probably reinforced because witches were said to use them for all kinds of dark spell casting. Glass mirrors showed up again in Venice in the 1200s.

2) Those ancient black Scrying (from descry–to see or perceive) mirrors used for divination by witches and sorcerers were once made black by using asphaltum painted on the glass three times. These were used for foretelling the future, or being able to “see” what is happening from distances, but is this real?

I imagine the staring at crystal balls, or Scrying mirrors to be similar to a focused meditation. Try closing your eyes in a meditation and focus on an individual, place, or event and “see” what you get.

Some studies have suggested the possibility that at least some individuals can see from distances beyond the physical abilities of the natural eye. Though these studies are not conclusive, they do provide tantalizing evidence for the technique of “remote viewing.”

Dreams too are like projections onto a darkened mirror some of which defy an explanation of anything other than what might be called precognition, or a shared viewing with someone else.

In short, meditation can often quiet the chattering mind just enough for us to see what the unconscious has picked up, but the conscious was too busy to notice. Thus too the Scrying mirror may act as a focusing instrument to still the mind and lay open the secrets of the inner psyche.

3) Today some tribal societies believe that to expose your self to a mirror is to render the soul vulnerable to misfortune, or even death. There used to be a widespread custom, and in some areas there still is, to remove all the mirrors from the house when a person is sick so as to prevent the mirror from stealing their soul.

When someone has died there was a tradition of turning the mirrors to face the wall because to see your reflection in a mirror after someone’s death will cause that person’s death as well. There was also a legend in the southern United States that suggested that an uncovered mirror in the house of a person who had just died would capture the soul of that person.

4) In the case of necromancy (communication with the deceased), the mirror represents absorption of the soul and then reflection, or its return, Could this reflect the concept of death and resurrection?

5) There is a myth concerning years of ill fortune surrounding the breaking of a mirror, but did you know that there is also a superstition that says if a mirror falls on its own accord and breaks, it is also a death omen? On the other hand a girl who sees the reflection of the moon in a mirror will learn the date of her wedding (given that women generally determine the day and then tell the man when it’s to be, this is no surprise).

6) There is also an old superstition that if you were to stare into the reflection of yourself at night, one would see the devil. Though I don’t believe this, I also have an aversion to staring at my reflection in a darkened room for too long–something creepy always seems to hover close by.

7) However, I have heard it said and have tried this myself, that if you are feeling blue, or anxious with no one around to talk to, try staring into your eyes reflected in a mirror. After awhile the negative mood will disappear.

8) Some Buddhists believe that if you hang a mirror on the wall directly facing the front door, evil spirits will be reflected out of the house.

9) In Tarot reading the Mirror Spread is used to work with existing relationships, e.g. the cards are placed with the 1st, or querent card, placed at the top and then 3 cards in descending order to the left of it and 3 cards in descending order to the right and the result card placed at the bottom between these two rows. In this way the reader and querent can see the relationships in opposition i.e. The way you see the other person in the relationship; The way they see themselves; What the person represents to you; What you represent to them; Obstacles within the relationship; Strengths within the relationship.

I spell all this out because I think this isn’t a bad way of looking at relationship symbols in a dream, or in a person’s waking life as well.

10) In Corinthians 13:12 is the line, “For now we see through a glass, darkly.” Which some have taken to mean that to see something reflected in a mirror is less of the reality of that thing than to gaze upon it directly. This can happen when one looks back upon their childhood, or try to see what the child saw of the world, or to assign meaning to past events, or to look at God’s works through ones biases. To look through a window, or gaze at a mirror that has been darkened by your judgments and self-criticisms makes it difficult to see your true nature or what lies beyond your projected biases. This also reminds me of the saying involving “rose colored glasses.” To look through either does not give a true picture of the world.

As Rumi, the 13th century Muslim poet was purported to have said,

“Maybe you should glimpse your most beautiful face…Maybe you are the bearer of hidden treasure. Maybe you always have been.”

__________________________________

*See facebook.com/darcharithinn and click on the Video section then click on the 4th video on the top row. This is “Beginning Shadow Work #6”.

Tarot card, The Sun– The archetype of the Child, Rider-Waite, P.Smith 1909

We get so involved in survival we often leave our soul behind and the everyday battering we are subjected to can bury it ever deeper into a protective layer so that we lose sight of who we once were. Soul recovery and healing is probably the single most important task you’ll ever undertake in this life because without a healthy soul that difference that you’re so desperate to make and experience cannot actualize.

There are many soul healers in the world, but there’s a soul healing technique I learned from a book written by Robert Moss* that brought me back to an earlier dream I had titled “The Blue Fresco”.

In that dream a woman floating above the ground invited me to leave the world I was in and to travel down a path that lead into the distant hills (was I going forward or backward in time?). Angels climbed up and down a staircase to and from the sky while children ran up a grassy hill. This dream has afforded many interesting looks into my inner world. I offer it here in hopes that you will be able to use it for your self.

Moss suggested that I enter a meditation where I re-envision the dream, giving it life once again and entering it with the intention of getting answered two important questions: “What do you want when you reenter the dream?” To which I answered, “What’s down the road?” The second question was, “What do I want to find there?”

What I wanted to find was the “powerful child”, the once competent and confident child, and its whole and undamaged soul. As suggested I also put on a shaman’s drum CD and focusing on my breath I counted four breaths in, hold, and four out and doing this until my body rested and my mind began to quiet.

Re-envisioning the dream I began to talk to the woman in blue, who clearly was my mother. She invited me to walk with her down the path and into the hills where I once again saw the story of my life, and all those events where I had felt loss and defeat. “You chose your meanings long before you ever experienced them and thus limited your self, Robert.” She said. She then encouraged me to shift their meaning so as to see another side of their reality.

As I did this, each event began to transform into something new, betrayal turned to love, abandonment either disappeared altogether, or became the prequel to an embrace. I began to see that every interpretation could have yet another hiding behind it and even though I once had chosen one meaning, I could as easily choose another.

This would become easier, I thought, if I were to shift the context of my life from “me” centered to “us” centered–from I to thou.

Further back into the hills I found a young boy sitting with a drum quietly tapping out his rhythm.

As I approached, this toe-headed boy turned toward me and smiled then rose from the grass and crawled into the lap of a large mama bear and nuzzled his head under her chin. Wrapped in her embrace, warm, and secure he was loved. He was in the power of the mama, the power of the bear. Everything began to fog and I found myself in the embrace of the bear. I had become the boy.

Soon I found myself running beside Onoma the she wolf, with my breath frosting like steam as we panted through the snow-covered forest. Suddenly I was lifted and rose above the trees as the she wolf looked up grinning at me. I twirled and spun with my arms outstretched like a da Vinci Vitruvius and flew higher while racing headlong through a tunnel of lightly falling snow then reached for a star that was quietly waiting at the tunnels end. With outstretched arm I grasped for it and pulled it in to me, this light, with its warmth, and its power held close and finally mine.

The drum, its rhythm, my rhythm, my song, my dance, the beat of my soul, pounded out every step to show me the way–the way back home. My soul was in the trees, the bear, the mother, the wolf, and the light that was mine to claim once again.

Once again on the ground I looked down and to my right and there was the boy looking up at me with a worried look on his clear, bright face.

“Where’ve you been?” He said as he took my hand and we strolled across the mudflats of his world. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too”, I said.

“You’re always welcome you know.” He said encouragingly.

“I know. Can I come any time?”

“Yeah! Any time.”

***

Many of you who have been reading my Blog or website will recognize the meditation as a form of Active Imagining, or Dream Tending. I offer it here as another means for lucidly reentering a dream for the purpose of not only understanding the message of a dream, but to also heal the soul and re-enliven the child who has never left any of us–to see the world through the visions of childhood.

“The appearance of things change according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.”

–Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Poet

For this article I have used the image of the Tarot card of the Sun** for it is representative of the unification of opposites through the Mother and the Father where the conscious and unconscious unite to form a self-conscious being, that is a being fully aware of itself i.e. the Child.

Psychologically, in this meditation the man also unites with the boy and together they become more than their sum. It is this unity that helps to heal the soul and recapture its power.

Actually all the major and minor arcana of the Tarot can represent the unification of opposites, thus bringing forth psychological wholeness.

Animals whether they show up in dreams or in meditation make statements about our own vitality. Often they are messengers from the deepest part of ourselves. The Greeks, according to Robert Moss, considered the sender of dreams the “Mother of Animals”. The condition of these animals often reflects your condition in your waking life.

Language translation

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I am a certified Educational Psychologist with over 35 years of experience working with adjudicated youth and with children with severe emotional disabilities.
I have authored several books and manuals on meditation, behavior management, Affective Education, and Dream Interpretation. Currently I have a novel, The Archipelago of Dreams available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble on-line book stores. I have interpreted nearly 4000 of my own dreams and many thousands more of others professionally and through those sent to me through the http://thedreamingwizard.com website. I have been trained in the art and science of dream interpretation and follow a Jungian perspective.
I am a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and The International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD). Currently I serve on two boards, for a private school serving children with autism and on the Adult Education board for a local church. My wife and I have also presented in-class development activities in conflict resolution for a local elementary school over the last 10 years.
We have three daughters and three granddaughters and one son who have all made our lives richer and made me a much better and more compassionate psychologist, father, person.
This blog is only for those who have the courage to explore a reality beyond their own limited biases. Minds that are playing small, conservative, boxed in and un self-aware need not click on this site for it will only confuse and distort the safe little world you have built for yourself.

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